Allders Plc was founded by Joshua
Allder, in Croydon offering a wide range of fashion and household
merchandise. By the late 1980's Allders Plc had eleven department
stores, nine in the South, one in Hull and one in Leeds. It now
operates 19 department stores and 17 'Allders at Home', edge-of-town
household stores in the UK.
Allders has recently purchased four former C&A stores and has an
agreement with Minerva Plc concerning their Park Place project in
Croydon Town Centre. The Eltham store was sold for £5.5 million.
Allders Plc was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1993.
Allders.com was launched to reach beyond the geographical limitations
imposed by physical store location. This Internet site, for a relatively
small investment, allows Allders to address the widest possible
UK customer base and keeps abreast of changing patterns in consumer
demand. Allders has a policy of offering satisfaction guaranteed
for all their customers - best price, best quality, best value...or
your money back. It claims its success is built on listening and
responding to the needs of its customers; that everyone in the business
is trained to recognise that total customer satisfaction is their
prime objective.
Allders marketing strategies such as links with Great Ormond Street
Hospital, sponsorship of the Peugeot Sport Team in the National
Saloon Car Cup and rigorous promotion of the Allders Account Card
are employed in order to stay ahead of its competition.
Allders employs 7,100 people and has a market capitalisation of
£79.6 million. In the financial year ending 30th September 2000
like-for-like sales were up by 2% from £510.6 million to £511.3
million.